


Anniversary

by rebel_wren



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: (not between zeb and hera ofc), Anniversary, Best Friends, Canonical Character Death, Dancing, Dinner, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Ficlet, Flowers, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sex, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, Past Character Death, Post-Finale, Pregnancy, Sad Fluff, Short One Shot, but like..., past Kanan/Hera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 06:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19057405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_wren/pseuds/rebel_wren
Summary: After Lothal is liberated, Hera has to celebrate her and Kanan's anniversary alone.Or so she thinks.





	Anniversary

Hera sighed loudly. She was staring at some of the scuffs and stains that the  _ Ghost _ ’s common room table had accumulated over the years, and absentmindedly tracing some of them with her fingers. She was deeply lost in thought, so lost she hardly even noticed when Zeb came in.

“Hey,” he said, and when Hera looked up she could see he was frowning in concern. “You alright?”

Hera nodded and looked down again to avoid his eyes, but she could tell that Zeb wasn’t convinced.

“You’re moping,” he continued. “Is the baby making you sick? Should I take you to the doctor?”

Hera shook her head. “No, it’s not the baby.”

Zeb came over and sat down next to her. “Then what’s the problem?”

“Nothing.”

Zeb furrowed his brow. “Hera.”

She finally looked back up at him. “It’s… today is Kanan and I’s anniversary.”

Zeb looked sadly at her, and tilted his head a little bit in sympathy. “I- I’m sorry, Hera.”

Zeb put an arm around her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. She and Zeb had started to rely on each other a lot more since Lothal, and they’d become a lot closer.

“He used to say he wanted to take me out to a fancy dinner on our anniversary someday,” Hera said, staring at the wall across the room. She smiled slightly at the memory “And he wanted to go dancing too. But he never got a chance.”

Zeb tightened his arm, drawing her even closer to him, and Hera moved a hand to rest on her abdomen, where the baby was. They stayed like that for a while, just resting with one another. Hera felt herself get lost in thought again, and was pulled out of it when Zeb shifted his weight a little bit. Hera sat up, rolling her shoulders.

“Hera, you’re fine, I just-”

“No, it’s alright,” Hera said. “I need to do some work anyway.”

Hera put a hand on the side of Zeb’s face, and smiled at him.

“Thank you, Zeb.”

 

* * *

 

Hera was in the cockpit, leaning back in her chair and reading through all of the latest mission reports, when there was a knock on the cockpit door.

“It’s open,” she said.

The door opened, and she looked behind her to see Zeb, holding… flowers?

Hera raised an eyebrow. “What are those for?”

“Um…” he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “They’re for you. I’m taking you to dinner. For your anniversary.”

He stepped forward and handed the flowers to Hera. Hera recognized them, they were the same ones that grew in a little patch on the outskirts of the base, under a small clearing in the trees. Hera smiled as she looked at them, and looked up at Zeb.

“Zeb, you don’t have to take me out just because you feel bad.”

“I don’t have to,” Zeb agreed. “But I want to.”

He extended a hand, and Hera took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

“It’s not a fancy dinner, just to the mess hall, but-”

Hera laughed. “The mess hall is fine with me. Let me get some water for these, and I’ll go with you, okay?”

Zeb nodded, and Hera went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water, and placed the flowers in the glass, and then brushed her pants off quickly, and met with Zeb, smiling at him.

Once they got to the mess hall, Zeb pulled her to a table to themselves.

“I’ll go get food, okay?”

Hera nodded, and watched him leave, smiling as she did. He came back just a few moments later with two trays- it was just typical mess hall food. Both were piled with food, and Zeb placed one in front of Hera, and then sat the other one down as he sat across from her.

Hera raised an eyebrow in amusement. “You got me the same amount as you?”

Zeb nodded. “Well, I figured that I’m a Lasat, and you’re pregnant, so we eat about the same amount.”

Hera laughed as she lifted a fork from the tray.

“Still, I don’t know if I can eat all of this.”

“I bet you can,” Zeb said, picking up his own fork and lifting a piece up.

Hera took a bite of hers. It was mess hall food, so while it wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t exemplary either. But Hera didn’t mind, eating it even quicker than Zeb as they talked (mostly about the baby, as that had seemed to occupy all of Hera’s conversations lately). In fact, she had cleared her plate before he did, and put her fork down on the tray. Zeb swallowed the last bite of his food.

“What did I tell you,” he said with a smile.

“Mmhmm,” Hera answered. “There’s food on your teeth.”

Zeb licked it away and chuckled. “Sorry it wasn’t a fancy dinner.”

“It was wonderful, Zeb,” she said. “I had a nice time.”

Zeb smiled, and reached over to take her tray, and he stacked it with his. He stood up and walked around, offering Hera his free hand to help her up out of the chair. Zeb threw out their trash and put the trays on the shelf beside it as they left the mess hall. They walked back to the  _ Ghost  _ together, and Zeb stopped Hera in the common room.

“Wait, Hera hold on.”

He left for his room quickly, and came back a few moments later, setting a speaker on the table and turning it on. A song started playing, but it wasn’t the usual music that Zeb listened to- it was an old, slower one. The kind that Kanan listened to sometimes, when he would take her hand and pull her into a dance, singing along to the song while making goofy faces so he could earn a laugh from Hera.

Hera raised an eyebrow at Zeb. “What’s this?”

“I’m taking you dancing,” Zeb replied simply.

He extended a hand to her, and she took it with a smile. Zeb pulled her a little closer, and Hera rested her hands on him, and they danced slowly to the song. It was a little awkward- the size difference made things a rather clumsy, and Hera often found herself tripping on Zeb’s feet, but neither of them really minded.

When the song ended, Zeb stepped back, and turned off the speaker, and then looked back at Hera nervously.

“I know this wasn’t really… the fancy anniversary date you should’ve had, and I’m not as good-looking as Kanan,” Zeb said with a chuckle. “But-”

“No, Zeb,” Hera said, smiling at him. “It was perfect. I had a great time.”

He nodded. “Good, I- I’m glad to hear that. Is there anything else that you and Kanan would’ve done on a date?”

Hera pursed her lips to resist smirking. “Well… I think there is  _ one _ thing, but you and I can just leave that part out.”

Zeb laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, I think so.”

Hera smiled, and then stepped forward and hugged Zeb tightly, and he returned (though not quite as tight).

“Thank you, Zeb,” Hera whispered.

 

* * *

 

 

Hera stared up above her bed. She couldn’t sleep.

She hadn’t slept right at all since Lothal.

She turned on her side, and pulled the covers up. Pushed the covers down. Rolled to her other side. Rolled onto her back. Pulled the covers up again. Rolled on her side again. Pushed the covers down again. She adjusted her pillow once, twice, three, four times. She rolled back onto her back, and sighed.

She needed someone to help her.

Hera slowly got up, and left her room, going down the hall just a little bit. She stopped in front of Zeb’s room, and hesitated for just a moment before opening the door.

Zeb snorted and sat up when it opened, rubbing his eyes and looking at Hera.

“Wha-?”

Hera smiled. “Sorry I woke you up.”

Zeb blinked a couple times and shook his head quickly. “No, no, it’s fine. You alright?”

“Yeah,” Hera said. “It’s just…”

Hera sighed, and Zeb tilted his head.

“What?”

“That ‘one thing’ I mentioned earlier? That’s not the  _ only _ thing Kanan and I would do.”

“Well I’d hope so,” Zeb said.

Hera smiled, and slowly approached his bed. “Sometimes, we’d just… curl up together, and- and just be together until we fell asleep.”

Zeb smiled at her, and beckoned her closer, and Hera slowly laid down on his bed with him.

It was a little scary, in all honesty. Not that she didn’t trust Zeb, just that she hadn’t been this vulnerable with anybody besides Kanan before. She’d been trying to be more vulnerable, more affectionate with the people she loved since Lothal, but this was a big step- though a necessary one.

Zeb helped her adjust the blanket over her, and he pulled her closer. Hera smiled, and let out a deep sigh as she relaxed with him.

“I’m lucky to have a friend like you,” Hera said quietly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“And I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Zeb responded. “You’re my best friend, Hera.”

Hera felt tears sting the corners of her eyes.

“You’re mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I think the post-finale period is one of my favorites to write for. I mean think about it- everything has changed for what's left of the crew, with Kanan and Ezra both gone and Hera pregnant, there's so much potential!


End file.
